The countdown continues! With the sixth annual Record Store Day just around the corner, all three Amoeba locations are gearing up for the biggest and best one yet! If you are reading this Amoeblog post, then you probably have already celebrated a few of these and know that this is our Xmas. It's the one day of the year that hundreds of independently owned music stores across the world simultaneously unite with the purpose of celebrating their culture and the unique place that they occupy in both their local communities and the world. THINK GLOBAL, PEOPLE.

Special vinyl, DVD, and CD releases are made exclusively for this holy day! This stuff is LIMITED and is destined to go up in value (for people who value limited, exclusive, and amazing stuff). Find out just what sort of exclusive stuff I'm talking about by viewing or downloading this RSD EXCLUSIVE RELEASES PDF.You'll also want to know what's happening at the Amoeba closest to YOU, so check out what we have planned for you record fans and fiends...

Don Buchla may not be a household name but the pioneering electronic music instrument inventions of this avant-garde artist have shaped what modern electronic music is today. His creation in the 1960's of a unique analog synthesizer (the Buchla) completely altered how people think about, compose, and perform music. To tell the Don Buchla story and to help make the general public more aware of this oft overlooked, avant-garde, modern music innovator, Bay Area filmmaker Connie Field set about making a documentary on Buchla.

"He has been called a mad scientist, a genius, an innovator, a recluse, an iconoclast, and has gathered a horde of fiercely loyal admirers by following his own visionary path, and dancing to his own muse," wrote Field on the Kickstarter page she set up to fund the filming of the documentary. [To date only 5% of the shooting has been done.] Working closely with Field on the film is editor Gregory Scharpen (a longtime Bay Area theatrical sound designer, musician, and KALX DJ) who has worked on eight other films with Field to date. Earlier today I caught up with Scharpen to ask him about this film and the importance of its subject to modern music.

Amoeblog: What is it that makes Don Buchla such a unique and worthwhile subject?

Gregory Scharpen: Don is both an engineer and a musician; a very unusual combination. Plus he has an innate sense of the theatrical, as well as an extreme dedication to craftsmanship. And there's the small matter of him being a genius.

Special shout-out to E-Lit from Amoeba Berkeley who, despite being under the weather with a nasty cold, took time to do the above video of the detailed run-down of what's new in hip-hop at Amoeba and supplying the latest top five chart. Topping the chart (no surprise) is the hotly anticipated new A$AP Rocky official debut release following the hella hyped Harlem rapper's mixtape. Note that A$AP's major label outing, care of RCA, comes in regular CD version of Long.Live. A$AP plus DeLuxe CD version, as well as the vinyl LP version. Other new chart entries include the brand new self-titled release from power trio Mixed Blood Majority that is made up of Crescent Moon of Kill The Vultures, Joe Horton of No Bird Sing, and Doomtree producer Lazerbeak.
Other new releases (non chart entries) mentioned by E-Lit include MF Grimm's Good Morning Vietnam
and The Dag Savage EP - both vinyl releases. Be sure to check out E-Lit's two KALX shows this weekend when he will be playing some of the aforementioned new releases. On Friday, Jan 25th, he will be doing a best of 2012 show on the UC Berkeley station from 9am to noon and then on Sunday night (Jan 27th) at midnight for the one-hour Yo! KALX Raps show he will be playing the best of 2013 so far. Tune into KALX on the radio dial if you are in the Bay Area on 90.7FM or online atkalx.berkeley.edu

"RIP to one of the best beat diggers, djs, and all around nicest dudes in the game. You will be missed, but your spirit will live on brotha."

The above comment, posted by Tha Megatron online yesterday, is just one of the literally hundreds of tributes that have been written about beloved Bay Area DJ Matthew Africa who was tragically killed last Monday (9/3) in a car crash. Since Thursday last, when the shocking news of this well-known and well-liked DJ's sudden death began circulating, friends and fans from the Bay and beyond have been mourning his passing through memories of the music that Matthew himself loved so much and happily shared via his radio shows, blogs, 2 Busy Sayin’ Yeah or Stay Hatin podcasts, club sets, and mixtapes. That comment by Tha Megatron was posted on the MixCrate page for Matthew Africa's final mix, "Matthew Africa: Plays Seven Inches," made a few weeks ago. On August 14th, the tireless crate-digging Bay Area DJ made what would be the last entry on his blog. And in true Matthew Africa fashion, it was all about music and records, and about how he was really looking forward to spinning 45s at the upcoming weekend's 45 Sessions - both to play records and to hang out with fellow music fanatics/DJs like DJ Platurn, E Da Boss, DJ Enki, and Joe Quixx.